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The North American Soccer League was supposed to be the 'next big thing' in sports. It lasted 17 seasons but it failed to dislodge the traditional team sports from their longtime perch as fan favorites. The league began in 1968 with the merger of two small pro leagues and lasted until 1984. At the peak of the NASL's popularity in the late 1970s, it had 24 teams. The New York Cosmos (who featured Pele and Franz Beckenbauer on their roster) sometimes drew 70,000 fans to Giants Stadium. However, the league average never exceeded 15,000 fans per game and some teams struggled to draw 5,000. By its last season, the NASL had dwindled to nine teams. By the time the final NASL game was played between the Chicago Sting and Toronto Blizzard, only three teams were solvent. To Europeans, the NASL was perceived as soccer's version of an elephants' graveyard where players long past their primes could extend their careers for sizable money. The Euro stars, despite their diminishing skills, accounted for large chunks of teams' payrolls that could have been better spent fostering North American talent. Traditionalists were also put off by the NASL's gimmicks to Americanize the sport: a liberalized offside rule, game clocks that counted downward instead of upward, penalty shootouts to break ties, and a crazy points system that rewarded goals scored as well as wins. In the end, the NASL managed to alienate traditional soccer fans while failing to attract new ones. Tags:NASLsoccerAdded: 12th April 2011Views: 1325Rating:Posted By:Lava1964